HUNTING FOR DOLLARS: Joe Murdock’s timber and unfarmed land now is making enough money to help pay his taxes.The Williamsfield man rents his farmable acreage to a farmer to grow corn and soybeans. Now he also makes money off 300 acres of timber and grassland that never before made an income for the four generations of his family’s land ownership. He leases the land with timber and grassland for $10 to $20 per acre to an outfitter, which in turn sells hunting packages to hunters in Illinois and as far as Maryland. GALESBURG/STIERS/Illinois and Agriculture

STATE BRIEFS: A collection of briefs from GateHouse newspapers across the state. Posted by 6 p.m./Illinois and Illinois News.

FIRE ENGINE CRASH: (w/pic) Two Limestone volunteer firefighters were taken to an area hospital this morning after the fire engine they were riding in overturned while enroute to a two-vehicle rollover accident. Will see if there were any other weather related crashes. FARK/PEORIA/Illinois News

COMBATTING CYBER MONDAY: Retail analysts say a half-billion dollars in lost work productivity occurs on the Monday following the annual shopping frenzy of Thanksgiving weekend. They blame it on employees surfing for bargains on-line on their work computers. But how do they get away with it? Most employers don't allow use of the Internet for personal reasons. Check with local companies about what their Internet use policies are, how vigorously they hunt down violators and how they punish them. The temptations of high-speed Internet access apparently are too great for human beings to resist. HILYARD/PEORIA/Illinois News

SPECIAL TREE DELIVERY: (w/pic) Volunteers from a WIU fraternity and the Macomb Rotary Club will be placing and decorating 200 fresh Christmas trees in front of the Wesley Village retirement center this afternoon. The trees are part of a fundraiser for the center's remodeling. POSPESCHIL/PEORIA/Illinois News

ODD ROBBERY: A Bloomington man faces allegations that he poured bleach down a man's throat, hit him with a hatchet and tied him up Saturday in an effort to steal $10,000. David Koeppen, 22, was charged Sunday with home invasion, robbery, residential burglary, aggravated battery and aggravated unlawful restraint. He was held in lieu of $10,000. He is in court today. DOUBET/PEORIA/Illinois News

COMED TREES: ComEd plans to remove about 100 trees between Alpine Park Road and Arnold Avenue next month, a move officials said today could dramatically alter the appearance of the area, where high-reaching blue spruce and silver maple exist in some yards. The tree removal comes as regulations require the city’s electric utility to cut down tall growing trees that could interfere with transmission lines, which provide power to tens of thousands of customers. Failure to do so could mean fines for ComEd and could jeopardize power for more than 24,000 Rockford residents. ROCKFORD/Illinois News/posted.

VIETSKUL: Spectrum School aims to help Rockford and Vietnamese students learn "from" each other, not just "about" each other, in a partersnhip with a school in Ho Chi Minh City. Spectrum teachers have traveled there, and the schools are planning joint learning projects and more. ROCKFORD/Illinois News/posted.

PAINTING HONORS SLAIN VENDOR: After ice cream vendor Isidro Duran was shot and killed selling his fruit bars in the city’s southwest side in July, his daughter, Adriana, was angry. ROCKFORD/Illinois/posted.

Sports

NADEL’S BEST OF THE BALDEST TRUTH: Featuring items on the Bears, college football. COLUMN/Mike Nadel, Bears, GHNS-Sports.

DEER EXPEDITION: Career mechanic Chad Helman spent about $3,500 for travel, licensing and rights to an eight-day hunt for whitetail deer in west-central Illinois, 700 miles from home. GALESBURG/Illinois Sports and Outdoors

WITH THE ILLINI: Multi-sport notebook column will include coverage of men's basketball, football and women's basketball. SUPINIE. Champaign. Illinois sports and Big Ten. Moving this evening.

ACC-BIG TEN CHALLENGE: Short story on the annual series between two major conferences. Will include chart on previous year's results and a schedule for this season. Challenge begins with one game game Monday. SUPINIE. Champaign. Illinois sports and Big Ten. Moving this evening.

Opinions

CONTRIBUTING TO THE DEATH: Bad parenting and Internet harassment leads to death of Missouri teen. EDITORIAL/PEORIA/Illinois Opinion.

REMEMBERING MR. WHIPPLE: For those of a certain generation, Dick Wilson was an icon, one of the most recognizable faces in all of America. EDITORIAL/PEORIA/Illinois Opinion and GHNS-Opinion.

CHUCK SWEENEY: For decades, Illinois has been ignored by the presidential hopefuls because of its late March primary. This year, spurred by the candidacy of favorite son Barack Obama, the Legislature moved up the 2008 primary to Feb. 5. COLUMN/ROCKFORD/Illinois Opinion.

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